chriswareham

I have one of the Chinese made Hofner Violin basses and I love it. Even used it to play a cover of Velvet Revolver's "Slither" in drop D. The cheap Chinese ones don't have a block of wood down the inside of the body, which makes them sound more like the original ones than the current "contemporary" models that are made in Germany.

I picked up an old analogue synthesiser from a guy in South West London earlier today. When he found out I was a bass player, he pulled out a heavy duty flight case and said "you might like this". Turned out to be a stunning Alembic that he's also got listed on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alembic-Excel-5-bass-guitar-/122106882184 Not my kind of thing thankfully (although I'd love a 4 string Spoiler in black with ebony fretboard, but can only afford one in my dreams) but I know there's a lot of love for Alembic basses on here.

A while ago there was a thread about ideal cars for bass players. I mentioned that the Ford Ka seemed to have been designed on the basis of being able to get an Ampeg fridge in it. A few people expressed surprise that it was possible to get an Ampeg 8x10, two Acoustic amps, a guitar amp, a couple of basses and assorted other kit in such a small car. So here's the proof!

[quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1472492770' post='3121559'] I may be wrong but I think the issue with MP3 encoders being bundled with software is that there's a licence fee to be paid for the encoder. If you're buying software then the provider is paying a small amount on to whoever holds the rights for the MP3 technology. If you're going for free or open source then, assuming the provider wants to stay on the right side of the law, they can't bundle the encoder. [/quote] There are dubious patent issues with MP3 encoding. This doesn't apply in all countries, but a lot of software makes you download an encoder separately to cover themselves. On Linux, the installation is normally a single click, with the onus for getting a license technically down to the user. Since software patents arguably shouldn't be valid in the first place, the patent holders aren't able to do anything about it when no individual users get a license.

Was his tech a guy with a Belfast accent? My friend Dave has regularly been his tech in the past.

May be too far for you, but Resident Studios in Willesden have a grand piano in their largest room. Apart from that, it may be worth checking out John Henry's although I can't imagine they're very cheap.

What an utter legend! And I love the fact that no matter how long the marriage he still has the same issues those of us with considerably shorter relationships face :-D

The Cramps recorded and performed without a bassist quite often.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1470399772' post='3105746'] I'venever been a fan of single oscillator and envelope generator synths. They are simply not versatile enough. When I bought my first mono synth I compromised on playability and interface options by getting an EDP Wasp simply because the sonic possibilities were far superior over ever other synth in the same price range. [/quote] My Jupiter 4 is capable of an extraordinary range of sounds despite being only a single oscillator synth. The Wasp had a great filter, but based on the one I tinkered with it was almost unplayable thanks to the "keyboard" and the oscillators were really under featured waveform wise.

I'm not too good on emoticons, so I took it as meaning to laugh at my "ignorance". As to the spelling, my auto-correct seems to think I'm more likely to talk about murderous athletes than a bass player ...

It's a weird one. Yesterday I described why I didn't like a particular Jaco Pistorius bass part, and was called "ignorant". I didn't comment on the man, or the rest of his work, but apparently having an opinion makes me ignorant. Oh well.

[quote name='Daz39' timestamp='1470606571' post='3107115'] You're still liking the Head then?! [/quote] Absolutely :-) Although it's so loud I can barely get the output level past "1" while practising at home with it!

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1470679859' post='3107620'] I guess one of the undisputed giants of bass accompanying one of the greatest poets that ever picked up a guitar is not for everyone... [/quote] The rest of the track I like, it's just the bass I don't get. I usually like a collision of styles, but it really doesn't sound like the bass part is even accompanying the same song ...

On that Joni Mitchell track the bass sounds like they accidentally mixed in someone noodling over another track. Sounds like someone making comedy fart noises with their armpit in places as well. I really don't get it ...

Probably just a decent mix, since there's nothing remarkable about the keyboard sounds themselves - they're just bog standard polysynth string sounds. What I find helps though, is if the synth has a high pass filter. The presets on a lot of gear tend to be very "full" sounding so they sound good in the shop. For recording I tend to drop a lot of the lower frequencies out to make pad sounds cut through without overwhelming everything else. In the absence of a high pass filter, try upping the octave on any oscillators that are lower than the highest one in a patch, or turn off the sub-oscillator if there is one. This is all assuming you can you can edit the sounds, and that it's based on subtractive synthesis. If it's a fully preset keyboard, then it's a graphic equaliser to drop out some of the bottom end or boost the higher frequencies.

I bought a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX AH300 from Daz in May 2016. Excellent communication, the amp arrived well packaged and had clearly been well cared for. Cheers, Chris

Not the greatest picture, but this is my GP12 SMX married to a pair of SWR speakers, a Goliath 4x10 and Big Ben 1x18. Having had a certain bass sound in my head for years, it came as a bit of an epiphany when I got a BLX combo for free earlier this year. I'd always had Trace stuff pigeon holed as being for slap players, and was gobsmacked when I found it can deliver that punchy sound I'd been looking for. Still love my valve and acoustic amps, but they are for different horses for different courses.

If being made in China is a concern, then the Markbass may disappoint you as they shifted a lot of their production to the far east a while ago.

My "looker" is a Greco Rick copy, which I play most of our sets on. My "beater" is a Hondo Precision copy (the later Korean one with a DiMarzio pickup), which I use for the part of our sets that are in drop D rather than drop Bb. Perfectly happy playing either as they sound great and even the Hondo looks the part.

[quote name='Pow_22' timestamp='1469602375' post='3099584'] The Mk3 Sound City's are close, the Mk4s are sh*te tho [/quote] The Mk 4 Sound City is great if you know how to use the active tone controls. Same power section as the Mk 3, and more easily found on places like eBay. They can also be converted to a Hiwatt DR 103 clone quite easily, since they are an evolution of the same basic design.

A decent 4x10 or 2x10 would be very versatile for recording. Plenty of the former available at bargain prices second hand, and if it's going to be studio based then weight isn't an issue. So perhaps a Trace Elliot or Ampeg.

Here's a great example of Play Dead and chorused bass: http://youtu.be/-2SzF1Z_v3o

[quote name='highwayman' timestamp='1469707768' post='3100482'] Do -did in Raven's case- both bassists play predominately with plectrums? I've tried playing 'Love Like Blood' without one & it doesn't sound right. [/quote] I've never seen pictures of Raven playing without a plectrum, and I'd be surprised if Hooky has ever tried (particularly with his bass positioned so low).

Craig Adams era Sisters Of Mercy was valve amps (except the very early days when I think he had a HH solid state combo). He was often pictured with an Ampeg SVT-CL and loved a heavily overdriven sound. Simon Gallup was a solid state Peavey user with a sound that wasn't overdriven, but he often had lots of chorus or flanger on instead. Chorus and flanger was quite a common effect on "goth" bass sounds, check out a lot of Play Dead stuff for instance (Shine, Gaze or Isabel are great examples as well as great, bass lead songs).